Flesh Without, Spark Within
by Luminous Blane
Summary: Sari's spark is tormented after the results of her upgrade. Desperate for an outlet, and a source of control, she asks Prowl for help. She finds that only one bot can help her recover, but how can she face him after what she did? bbxsari. more on the way.
1. From Heartache to Happiness

Flesh Without, Spark Within

by

Luminous Blane

Disclaimer: ownership is Hasbro's, no profit, yada yada yada. If I do somehow make money off this, sue me for all I'm worth.

The following takes place during an indeterminate period between TransWarped and Human Error.

"There are two martial disciplines at the core of every Cyber Ninja's training. The first, Circuit-Su, is about focus and clarity of the processor, knowledge of one's inherent abilities, and how far the extent of your parts can get you. With that knowledge, you can apply your own mental prowess, focusing your willpower to go even farther than your physical body would allow on its own.

"The second discipline, Metallikato, focuses on the ability to strike with precision, clarity, and the desire to defeat a foe with as few blows as possible. It is said that the first masters of this art derived it from their own desire to fulfill their duties of protecting others without causing undue suffering to their foes. You have asked me to train you? Then these will be your curriculum." Prowl stood motionless, having given his lecture, his face serious and firm, yet calm and gentle. What he knew of teaching these arts, he would have to base on his memories of Yoketron. "Once you master these aspects, full control of your physical and mental faculties, you will be able to unlock the powers of processor over matter." Sari stared at him silently for a moment, appreciative of his willingness to teach her.

"Um...Prowl-" He held up a hand.

"Tradition states that you are to call me Sensei." Sari nodded, and continued.

"Sorry, Sensei, but...do I really have to learn all of that? I'm only interested in about half of it." Prowl let out a sigh of dismay.

"I presumed as much. I understand your desire to forgo the less...exciting of these arts, but the true power of a Cyber ninja comes from the culmination of the two. I will not teach you Metallikato unless you are willing to learn Circuit-Su."

"But...That's not what I meant." Sari frowned. "You're always talking about control, and discipline...well, I know what it's like to lose control...to almost lose everything...I don't care about learning to fight efficiently. I just want to make sure that never happens again..." Prowl smiled, and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I will teach you both, though I was admittedly reluctant to do so. You will learn Metallikato from me. When and if you use it is a matter I leave to you. I know I cannot induct you, officially, into the Cyber ninja corps. Regardless, you will receive the full training." Sari scowled at this.

"Fine. Let's start with Circuit-Su. It would be irresponsible to learn Metallikato first, right? I mean, I have to learn control before I start learning to hurt things. Of course, I might not stick around, once I'm done with Circuit-Su." She smirked a bit, certain that he'd give in at this point.

"It is true that, at any point, you may abandon your training." Sari straightened up, her smirk growing into a smile. "But know that, if you quit half way through, I will be so very, very disappointed in you..."

Sari's smile faded and she looked to the floor, feeling ashamed. "So, which discipline lets you guilt trip friends into doing whatever you want, Sensei?" Prowl smirked.

"That would be Metallikato, actually. The focus is on ending the fights in the fewest strikes. If you can guilt your foes into surrendering, you win without striking once. Now, let us begin with the basics of Circuit-Su. Now, I would remove all non-essential parts from you, but to be honest, I'm not sure how it would affect you. Therefor, I would prefer you remain in your human mode. Now, let us begin." For just over two hours, Prowl educated, instructed, and lectured Sari, on the philosophies, codes, and principles behind Circuit-Su. Finally, it was time to begin actual training. Or it would have been. Bumblebee walked into the room, scowling.

"What's this I hear about you agreeing to teach Sari to be a Cyber ninja? I've been trying to get you to do that since I found out you were one!"

"And I tried once, remember? You lack the patience and will to fully apply yourself to the training." Bumblebee took a step back, and put his hand to his chin, looking thoughtful.

"...Oh! Right! I remember now. Yeah, never mind training, that stuff is boring with a capital bore. Good luck, Sari." He gave her a warm smile, though she frowned in return, looking away.

"Pro...I mean, Sensei...I...I need some fresh air...Can we take a break?" Prowl stood for a moment in thought.

"Well, we have been in here for nearly a megacycle...Take the rest of the day to reflect on what I have talked about. We'll hold off practical training till tomorrow." Sari nodded, and walked quickly out of the room. Bumblebee slumped to the floor, sitting with a frown on his face.

"She hates me now." He sighed, staring after her. "I don't know why, but she hates me now." Prowl put his hand on his comrade's shoulder.

"I don't think that's the case. I think she's just uncomfortable around you." He told the compact, and began to leave.

"Wait, wait, why would she be uncomfortable?" Prowl turned around at this, staring into Bumblebee's optics.

"You really don't get it, do you? Bumblebee, out of all of us, you and Bulkhead have always been closest to her. In fact, whenever the option presented itself, it was you she would ride in. Now, I want you to think about the last time that you two were together before she started acting like this." Prowl waited for a response, watching as Bumblebee scratched his head.

"Well, I guess when she got overloaded. What does that have to do with anything?" Prowl rubbed his forehead in dismay at the yellow Bot's response.

"Which was when she skewered you, her best friend, nearly taking you offline. I swear, you're so dense it's amazing she could penetrate you at all. She feels guilty, Bumblebee."

"You're sure about that?" Bumblebee stared at Prowl in a bewildered combination of shock confusion.

"Guilt is part of a Cyber ninja's arsenal. I know it when I see it." Bumblebee continued staring, raising a brow. Prowl sighed. "I'm as sure as Primus was that the Fallen had betrayed him, alright?" He barked at Bumblebee.

"Well, if that's the case, I gotta go talk to her about it!" He sped out of the room, and Prowl stared after him, shaking his head.

"Why can't he just give her space. Her body has just grown a great deal. Her spark needs some time, and some room, to grow to match it."

Sari walked down the street, staring at her feet as she went. So much had gone wrong, and it had been her fault. The destruction, the loss of the key...And worst of all, Bumblebee nearly died trying to help her. No, it wasn't that he got hurt trying to help her. He'd done that plenty of times in the past, she just managed to fix him up and brush it off. It was part of his duty as an Autobot. But this time...This time it wasn't that she nearly got him killed. It was that she nearly killed him.

As if he knew she'd be thinking about him, Bumblebee pulled up along side her, opening his car door. "I really need to talk to you, Sari..." She frowned, and walked faster. He sped up along side her, matching her speed, and keeping beside her as she broke into a run. As they reached a corner, he picked up speed and swung in front of her, catching her in his cab, and closing the door. "I'm not gonna make you talk...but at least let me give you a lift! You used to ride in me all the time..." She didn't respond, clenching her eyes shut. "I'll...I'll swing by Burger Bot...we can get you a vanilla shake..."

After failing to discern a destination, or get any hint of desire for a shake out of Sari, Bumblebee made his way to the park, and let her out. She silently made her way to a bench and sat down, the Autobot taking a seat next to her, and then quickly getting up as the wood began to creak, opting instead to sit on the ground beside the bench. Time dragged on as the sun began to set on Detroit. Minutes passed, slowly and awkwardly, until a desperate Bumblebee decided to try to break the tension.

"So, uh...I've been meaning to tell you...Your new chassis is really nice..."

"Why don't you hate me?" She mumbled, her voice only just loud enough to register on his receptors.

"What? Hate you! How could I...No, how could anyone hate you? Well, except the Decepticons, but I'm pretty sure they hate everything, including each other...Wait...are your eyes leaking?" He frowned as he saw the tears streaming down her face.

"I almost destroyed the city, I broke the key, and worst of all, I almost took you offline! I...I almost took you offline...you should hate me...why won't you hate me..." She broke down into sobs, and Bumblebee looked around, a bit panicked, not knowing how to handle the situation. Prowl was way off. She wasn't uncomfortable. She was on the verge of a malfunction! He realized now, she took all of this so much more seriously than he had ever suspected. The part that frightened him the most was who the person in front of him was. This wasn't like Sari! She wasn't supposed to feel this bad over stuff she did! She was supposed to bend the rules, cross her fingers, work around it, and laugh when it all worked out!

In that moment of fear and panic, he realized something. Carefully, he put his arms around the Techno Organic. "Sari, I want you to listen to me. There's no system damage, no holes in my armor...but right now...that water leaking down your face...it hurts more than that energy blade ever could, because I know that water's for me...I know you're upset, but please...don't feel so bad...I've made my own share of mistakes...please, just...don't shut me out..." He held her in silence, waiting. Finally, her sobbing died down, her face pressed to his chest plate.

"I think...snf...I think I'm ready for that trip to Burger Bot now..." She gave him a weak smile as he wiped the tears from her eyes, and transformed, swinging his door wide open for her. As she sat down and closed the door, she felt her face begin to redden. "You, um...you really think my new...er, chassis, is nice?"

"Oh, heck yeah! I mean, you were always cute as a human, but now you got all that cuteness wrapped up in a sleek fembot shell!" Sari smiled a bit bashfully, feeling her cheeks get hot. They drove through and parked, continuing their talks as Sari began to eat.

"I...I have something I've been wanting to ask about for a while..." She said, before taking another bite of her Big Bot Burger. "I know there's fembots and mechs, I mean, I've seen Black Arachnia, after all...but, do they ever, y'know, couple?" Bumblebee fell silent at the slightly awkward question, then finally began to mumble something in response, something Sari couldn't quite make out. "What was that?"

"I said the lucky ones do...me, all the fembots laugh at. Too short, too childish...oh, and don't get me started about that crazy lemon who said she'd only go out with me if I stopped hanging out with Bulkhead...I've pretty much given up on finding that special someone that I can share a true, spark-felt binary-bond with."

Sari shifted uncomfortably, not quite sure how to proceed. She had still only been alive and online for 8 years, but she had suddenly developed so much. She looked, acted, and thought like a teenager now. Many new emotions and thoughts were revealing themselves, the most painful of which was these new feelings for Bumblebee. Before, she could hide behind her guilt, but his embrace had made it all just melt into tears and pour out of her. She didn't know how it would go, but she wanted to try.

"Well, um...Bumblebee...maybe don't give up on it just yet...okay?" She smiled meekly, placing her hand on the dashboard, and rubbing it gently.

"You...You do realize you're pretty much scraping the bottom of the team's barrel for Bachelor Bots, right? I mean, Prowl's sleek, Bulkhead's strong, Prime's got the whole dashing hero thing, Ratchet...well, OK, Ratchet's the bottom of the barrel. But me...I'm small, I'm childish, I'm weak..."

"Don't forget about brave, fast, and loyal...besides, if you weren't small and childish, I don't think I'd feel this way..." She leaned forward, then hesitated a bit, before kissing him in the center of the steering wheel.

Startled, Bumblebee transformed, accidentally dropping her and her food on the pavement. He stared at her for a moment, then, once the shock began to subside, he helped her to her feet. "Sorry about that...you, uh...caught me off guard...See? Stuff like that? That's why I'll never be able to get a fembot..." Sari smiled softly, and transformed, her organic and mechanical components rearranging their configuration, restraining the organics, and bringing the mechanical parts to the surface.

It wasn't much of a transformation, and she still wasn't sure which one technically constituted her alt-mode, but she was stronger, faster, more durable, and her energy spheres packed a bigger punch. She placed her metallic hand on his arm, and smiled up at him, pulling her face plate back from her helmet, revealing her pale yellow face, and orange lips.

"You've got one right here." She stared into his optics, and he stared back into hers. His face grew red. His spark was surging. Steam came blasting from the vents on his helmet without warning, and he fell backwards onto the ground, falling into sleep mode. Sari stared in shock, and quickly grabbed her cell phone, transforming back as she did.

Bumblebee exited sleep mode, finding himself on Ratchet's work bench, several tubes stuck in his head. "D-Doc Bot? What's happening?" Ratchet turned around, scowling at his patient.

"You null-pointered, overclocked, reckless slag head!" He shouted angrily at the compact.

"What did I do!"

"The problem is what you did NOT do. You've been neglecting regular self-maintenance. You mind telling me how far you thought you'd get, blazing around as fast as you do, with hardly any coolant in your tank?" Bumblebee frowned.

"So, I overheated, huh? Um...yeah, I meant to get some coolant about a decacycle ago..." Ratchet was filled with anger at this.

"A DECACYCLE? WHY SHOULD I EVEN BOTHER FIXING YOU IF YOU CAN'T EVEN KEEP YOURSELF WORKING ON YOUR OWN, YOU DIODE-BLOWN, GEAR-GRINDING-" He felt a small burst in the back of his head, and turned around, his magnetic claws activated.

Sari closed her palm over the sphere emitter. "Sorry, Ratchet. I've been trying to get you to turn around for a while, and nothing else was working. Shouldn't be any more damage than when Bulkhead dropped Bumblebee on you on the way here." Hearing this, the yellow bot snapped to attention, though his inquiries were ignored.

"Fine, you've got my attention, now what do you want?" Ratchet frowned, rubbing the back of his helmet. It was sore, but there was no real damage.

"I was just gonna say, you need to calm down. I don't know what's going on, but your bedside manner seems worse than usual." She hopped up onto the work bench, dangling her legs over the side as she sat down. Ratchet shuttered his optics and let out a sigh.

"You're right, you're right...I've just had a lot more work to since the key ran out of juice. Thanks to that piece of slag, everybody just thinks they can do whatever they want. They forgot how to take care of themselves. Anyway, Bumblebee, you've got plenty of coolant in you now..." He stopped the flow and removed the tubes, handing the compact his helmet. "Sorry if I was a little hard on you. But I want you to be more careful from now on. AND DON'T FORGET REGULAR MAINTENANCE!" He grumbled, and headed off for a stasis nap.

Sari smiled up at Bumblebee. "He's right, you know. You guys need to be more careful. I can help you keep up with maintenance if you want." Bumblebee smiled back, and silently, he wondered if her affection was nothing more than a glitch in his memory from the overheat.

"I'd appreciate that." He gently put his hand on her head. "I owe ya one." Sari shook her head.

"You owe me two. I think you're forgetting the shake you dropped after I kissed you in the parking lot." She smiled wryly. Before Bumblebee could respond to her, a familiar sound echoed through the med lab. Sari answered her cell phone after checking the screen. "Hi, daddy! Yeah, I'm with the Autobots. Bumblebee overheated, and I wanted to make sure he was OK. No, I think I'll stay here tonight, my room's still set up...OK, I'll be home by lunch time tomorrow. OK. Love you too, daddy." She put the phone back in her pocket, and turned to Bumblebee.

"I still can't get over how much he trusts me, just because I upgraded. I mean, I'm not THAT much more responsible." She sat down on Bumblebee's lap, stretching.

"Well, maybe he realizes you can take care of yourself since you got your powers. Or maybe he trusts us to take care of you. Or maybe he knows you'll get your way, even if he tells you to come home." Bumblebee spoke calmly, but his optics darted about anxiously.

"Or maybe you're coming up with this stuff to avoid talking about something that's bothering you?" She asked, looking up at him. He sighed, and hung his head.

"...Maybe...maybe it's not bothering me...maybe I just don't know how to handle it..." Sari frowned at this response.

"Maybe bringing it up in the first place was a mistake...maybe you're not interested in a techno-organic..." She had no tears, but felt a dull ache in her chest.

"Maybe I am interested, but maybe I'm so used to rejection, maybe I don't know how to handle the other bot being interested... Maybe I'm nervous because I never thought about one of my best friends like that...Maybe now I am thinking about it like that...maybe I'm realizing I'd like to give it a try...Maybe I'm scared of how it might end...Maybe I'm worried it won't work...Maybe I'm worried we won't be friends anymore..." He frowned, gently giving her his hand to lean back against. She thought for a moment, trying to come up with a response.

"Maybe you should act more like Bumblebee? Maybe all this worrying isn't like you? Maybe you should go with your spark, and worry about the consequences later? Maybe you should trust yourself more...maybe that's what I like about you..." She rested her hand on his insignia, smiling softly.

"MAYBE YOU SHOULD BOTH SHUT YOUR SYNTHESIZERS! MAYBE I'M TRYING TO TAKE A STASIS NAP IN THE NEXT ROOM! MAYBE YOU'RE KEEPING ME AWAKE WITH THIS LOVEY DOVEY DRAMA! MAYBE YOU DON'T HAVE ANY BUSINESS IN THE MED LAB ANYMORE!" At the sound of Ratchet's shouting, they both quickly evacuated to the safety of Sari's room.

"Do you need some time to think it over? No more maybes...just tell me. I can give you all the time you need..." She sat on her bed, staring at him. He gave her a cocky smile in return.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe this isn't like me. Maybe I should just go with my spark." His optics widened as she opened the generators in her hands. "Okay, okay, no more maybes! I...I don't know how it'll turn out, but you're right. I've never let that stop me before."

"Actually...you can worry about it all you want. It's...well...now you've got me nervous...this might be a bad idea..." Bumblebee chuckled and sat next to her bed, leaning over and putting an arm around her.

"When has that ever stopped us? We both go with plenty of bad ideas! And most of the time, when we work together, we manage to pull it off!" He smiled at her, and she leaned toward him, transforming and opening her face mask. She shuttered her optics, waiting. Finally, after taking a moment to steel his nerves, he kissed her.

It was soft, gentle, and only for a moment, but both of them felt their sparks surging at the feeling. It was their first kiss, and it was the beginning of their new relationship. For better or worse, they were going to give it their all.

NOTE TO REVIEWERS: Before nitpicking ANY of my terminology, I request you double check and make sure I didn't actually have it right. I used TF wiki several times to ensure I had the correct time units.


	2. Energon and Eggnog

The following takes place after the end of Human Error. But still on Christmas Day.

Professor Sumdac sat on the Autobot's surprisingly comfortable concrete sofa, watching them open the presents constructed, purchased, or procured by him and chosen by Sari. He wasn't sure how he felt about spending the night here, but Sari insisted that everyone she considered family be together on Christmas.

He smiled, watching his suddenly teenaged daughter hovering in the air with her jet pack. She floated back down, and gave Bumblebee a hug. He still wasn't quite used to seeing her like this. His little girl, now so grown up, with a giant alien robot boyfriend. Some fathers would object, but when a man has to tell his daughter that he doesn't like her being with their giant alien robot boyfriend, it's time for him to take a long look at that sentence and realize that he stopped being in control of his life, or hers, long ago.

And besides, Bumblebee was a good Bot. In all the time Isaac had known him, he'd never seen anything he could really disapprove of, at least not without smiling when it reminded him of Sari. He smiled as Optimus, with Ratchet on one side and Bulkhead on the other, approached him. Prime handed him a large package, smiling.

"We couldn't think of much to give you, professor, but we decided that we'd just put these together for you, as a gift from all the Autobots."

"I put together an admittedly rudimentary text on Cybertronian anatomy. It'd be more extensive, but I ran out of time." Ratchet smiled, seeming a bit embarrassed with his inability to get the book done as thoroughly as he thought he could.

"And I compiled all the knowledge of space bridges I have. We built one together, but you still don't seem to get how they work." Bulkhead stood proudly, smiling, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"I thank you all, so much. This has been a wonderful Christmas. The first Christmas I could spend with the new members of our family. Still, it has been a long day, with being brainwashed, and then when I woke up, Sari forgot she had trapped me under a shelf for a while. I'm very tired, so please, where is the bed I will be using?" The Autobots exchanged worried glances at this question. "You...do have a bed for me, tonight, yes?" They were aware for the last several days he'd be staying. They had stocked their home with food for him and Sari. Surely they wouldn't forget to give him a place to sleep!

"Uh...oh! I've got it!" Ratchet transformed, and suddenly his back doors swung open, a gurney bouncing out of him. Changing back, he locked the gurney's wheels, and carried it to the med lab, Sumdac following close behind. "Sorry, Professor. Optimus was supposed to pick up something for you to sleep on last night, but, well, he got distracted by a runaway Soundwave." Isaac nodded with understanding, and then tried to lift himself onto the gurney, with a bit of trouble. Ratchet gently helped him up, and gave him a spare blanket they had gotten for Sari's room. "Goodnight, Professor."

Suddenly, Sari came flying into the room, and hovered in front of her father, hugging him tightly. "Goodnight daddy. Merry Christmas." She flew back out the way she came, leaving her father smiling as he went to sleep.

"Professor Sumdac went to bed already?" Bumblebee sounded more shocked than disappointed.

"Daddy always goes to bed early on Christmas. I think it's because he stays up all night, trying to find out how Santa gets through the tower's force field, but he still wakes up when I do so we can open presents together." She smiled at Bumblebee. Things had been hectic, with all the Decepticon attacks, and they hadn't had as much time to themselves as they wanted.

Bumblebee stood up, taking her hand. "Come on, I left your present in your room. I, uh, couldn't really get the hang of wrapping it, but I wanted it to be a surprise."

"Not so fast, you two!" Bulkhead stood near them, holding out an arm over their heads, a string dangling from his claw, with a tiny bit of plant over their heads. "I saw this stuff in a bunch of TV specials. Now, I don't know what it has to do with missiles, but you two gotta kiss, cuz you're under it!" The Rest of the Autobots looked on approvingly, moving in for a closer look.

Sari stared at Bumblebee, blushing. She couldn't place it, but it felt strange to even think of kissing him in her human mode. Bumblebee was blushing as well, but he shuttered his optics, and leaned toward her slightly. She leaned up, and softly pressed her lips to his. Eyes clenched shut, she expected chuckling, laughing, maybe a song of the two of them in a tree. What she heard was clanky metal applause. She looked around, and all of the Autobots were gently clapping. She still felt awkward, having kissed her boyfriend like this, but what felt worse was the embarrassment of being made a spectacle.

Still, she was among friends, all trusted, all kind, none of them mocking, or teasing. She was embarrassed, yes, but for some reason, it didn't bother her quite so much. Suddenly, she came to her senses, remembering what was important.

"Now can we go get my present?" She grabbed Bumblebee by the hand, pulling him towards her room, grunting a bit as she tried to budge the bot twice her size. After waiting for her to give up, Bumblebee got up and walked to her room with her.

They entered the hall, and turned at her door. "Now, it's nothing big, you understand...we don't really earn any money...but I thought you'd like it...especially after today..." He entered before her, and walked to the table, picking something up, he cradled it in his hands as he went back to her. "I bet you wish you could've worn this while you were leading your team, huh?" He handed it to her, and she looked on it with adoration.

"I wanted to give it a personal touch, so I had the doc-bot take a bit out of me." It was a yellow chain, with an Autobot insignia pendant. "There's a switch on the bottom." Sari felt around, and pressed the switch. The pendant, now revealed to be a locket, popped open, a picture of Bumblebee on one side and a younger Sari on the other.

"Your dad didn't have any pictures that weren't just analytic since your upgrade, so I didn't have anything that really captured how full of life you are, but you can change the pictures out if you want..I hope you like it..." She stared at it silently, as Bumblebee watched her, filled with anxiety, desperate for some response. He had wracked his processor, and this was still all he could come up with. He had thought that, seeing as she could afford anything, a sentimental gift would mean more than something extravagant, but now, at the moment of truth, he wasn't quite so sure. "We-well? Do you like it?"

"Do I like it?" She fingered the chain. "I love it. How could I not? It's part of you...and the locket..." She pulled the chain over her head, and smiled at him softly, gently closing the locket. "...I was kind of worried this would bring bad memories, but..." She went out to the living room and retrieved a present, bringing it back to him. "They're upgrades...out of my own design. They don't have much range, because I made sure my dad put in some heavy limiters, but...here." She handed him the package, and he tore into the paper.

He held up two yellow triangular pieces of metal, with blades folded into them. "This is what..." Sari nodded, frowning.

"I really wanted to give you something from me, and, well, the skates, you already can use your wheels for that, and the hammer, it doesn't fit your speedy style...like I said, I hope they don't bring up bad memories for you..." She rubbed her arm, looking down toward the ground. "At least they're in your color..."

Bumblebee frowned, setting them on her table. "Sari, these are great, but I think you're the one who's got bad memories here...I've always wanted a melee weapon. If someone gets close enough for me to need those, chances are my stingers aren't being effective in the first place. But if you're still having trouble with the whole stabbing me thing, I'll put them somewhere out of the way, until we can both use these, without, well...bringing up painful memories..." She gave him an adoring smile, then her expression shifted to mock disbelief.

"You're actually thinking about someone else when you've got a great new upgrade to try? Where was that mindset when you wired those boosters to your back?"

"That was your idea, and you know it!" He shouted, feigning anger. Soon, neither could continue their charade, and both were consumed with laughter. "I, uh, did get one other present for you, Sari, but now that you have a jet pack, it seems kinda pointless..."

"And I guess it didn't get wrapped either? You know they make bags you can put presents in, for people who are bad at wrapping." Bumblebee's optics went wide.

"Son of a slag heap! Why didn't anybody tell me!?...actually, now that I think about it, it is wrapped, in me!" He transformed, and opened his door. "Take a seat!" Sari climbed in, and looked around.

"What am I supposed to be looking for? I don't see any--" She was cut off, as a blast of hot air hit her face. "A heater?" She couldn't help but giggle. "I can't believe you remembered that, you silly bot."

"Of course I remembered it. You were shouting about it for weeks! I figured this way, we could spend more time together, and you could be more comfortable while we did it." Prowl walked into the room quietly, looking to Sari.

"Yes, Sensei?" She smiled up at him.

"We've run out of Oilnog. Bulkhead keeps trying to figure out how to make more. This could prove explosive without the actual recipe at hand."

"Thoroughly mix forty gallons of oil with ten gallons of premium unleaded gasoline."

"Thank you, Sari. Merry Christmas. And, Bumblebee?"

"Yeah, Prowl?"

"If you really want to spend more time with Sari, I could try train you both together. If you've found the patience." He went silent, and stared at his prospective pupil, who seemed to be contemplating the idea.

"So, I get to spend more time with Sari...and learn to be a super cool ninja bot...and all I have to do is listen to boring lectures? This is the best Christmas I've ever had!" Prowl nodded, and smiled. He knew that, with a little work, he could make Bumblebee more patient, more disciplined. He just needed a reason for Bumblebee to let him work with him.

"I will see you both in my dojo tomorrow morning." He left the room, hands clasped behind his back.

"Yes, Sensei." They both replied, in unison.

"I have one more surprise, Sari. Could you step out for a moment?" She complied leaving the car. Suddenly, the seats began shifting, the dash folded toward the floor, the seats were raised, and laid flat against each other. She smiled widely, and grabbed her pillow and blanket, climbing into his cab and laying on the bed he formed for her.

"Where'd you get the idea for this one?"

"When I was picking up the heater, I saw them fixing a van. The bench seat in the back could flatten out into a bed."

"Thanks, Bee...wait, hang on." She climbed out, and turned off the lights in her room, before reentering his cab. "Alright...I'm gonna go ahead and go to sleep...Fighting Autobots today really wore me out."

"Goodnight, Sari. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, Bee...I love you..."

"I love you too..."

NOTE: yes, it's admittedly shorter than the last chapter, but I just wanted to do something special for their Christmas episode. Also, if you're wondering why it took so long after the series' end to write this fic, it's because I only got into animated over the last week, after realizing it was NOT a kiddy show, what with blurr being squashed in a clip on youtube. also, did you know blurr and shockwave have their G1 voice actors?! CRAZY, RIGHT?!


	3. There and Back Again

The following, and all later chapters, take place after the series finale, Endgame.

Sari and Bumblebee stood silently in the hallway of the Metroplex, the home of the Autobot High Council. Up and down the hall were images of brave Autobots who had fallen in the service of Cybertron. The two stared silently at the image of their fallen mentor, Prowl. Optimus Prime approached them, taking a moment to look at the holographic display of his fallen friend.

"Come on, you two. They're ready for us." He lead them down the hall, to the door of the High Council's meeting chamber, where Bulkhead and Ratchet waited patiently. Once they were all there, they stepped through the doorway. What was expected to be applause and praise was replaced with silent scrutiny. Ultra Magnus was present and online, seated beside Alpha Trion. After a moment of silence, it was Trion who spoke first.

"Optimus Prime, you and your subordinates have defeated and captured Megatron, crippling the current Decepticon movement. For that we thank you. However, you still have much to answer for." He lifted a data pad and began to read from it. "Twelve counts of insubordination against an acting Magnus. One count of unauthorized use of an MP-Class weapon, the Magnus Hammer. One count of aiding and abetting the Decepticon fugitive, Black Arachnia, in her experimentation, providing her with vital components to her machines, as well as refusing to report her location on Dinobot Island. One hundred and thirty seven counts of being a skid plate...wait, no, I'm sorry, I thought this was deleted on the final copy. Whether you were a skid plate or not is no business of this council. It is not a criminal offense and Sentinel Prime will be reprimanded for his childish, albeit harmless, tampering with court records."

"Wait, you're putting Optimus on trial! You can't do that! He saved my entire planet! He stopped Megatron!" The council starred daggers at Sari Sumdac, and she felt the breath being stolen right out of her as she shrank back.

"If I may continue without further outbursts? One count of construction of an unregistered and unauthorized space bridge, one count of allowing the construction of a space bridge on an organic planet, one count of unauthorized contact with sentient organic beings. Prime, do you take full responsibility for the actions of your subordinates?" Optimus nodded, frowning.

"Then I'm afraid there are more charges against you. One count of aiding a known criminal, the bounty hunter Lockdown. One count of interfering with the mission of the Autobot intelligence agent, Blurr. One count of unauthorized reactivation of the MP class weapon of mass destruction, Omega Supreme. These are grievous charges you face, Prime. Your punishment may be quite severe. Before the council convenes on the matter, do you have anything to say in regards to the charges against you? Perhaps you wish to reconsider taking responsibility for your subordinates?"

"No, Sir. I only wish to say, I am proud. I look back on each of these charges with utmost pride. If I and my team were not the bots we are, if we were not the bots to make those kinds of decisions, those kinds of choices, then a planet we love, a planet that our dear friends live on, would have been destroyed. Megatron's forces would have gone on to conquer Cybertron. There would have been no future for us." Alpha Trion frowned, looking down.

"I'm sorry, Prime, but the fact of the matter is that it is not the consequences of your actions that you are being tried for. It is the actions themselves. Regardless of consequences and circumstance, we must examine the infractions as if there had been no benefit reaped by Cybertron. We are all grateful to you, but it is the decision of this council that you not be granted immunity for your deeds, regardless of your status as a hero. Before we deliberate, Does the Magnus have anything to say?" He turned to Ultra Magnus, whose arm was still missing for repairs.

He stared silently at the group for what felt like hours. Finally, he spoke. "I, Ultra Magnus, Supreme Commander of all Autobot military forces...Do hereby take responsibility for the actions of my subordinates, Optimus Prime, Ratchet, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and the late Prowl." Everyone stared in shock at Ultra Magnus' words. He smiled gently at the small group of Autobots who had only just been on trial. Alpha Trion quickly composed himself.

"Very well, then do you have anything to say to these charges, in your defense?" Magnus took a thoughtful glance around the room, then smirked. It was disconcerting, to say the least. It wasn't known that Ultra Magnus COULD smirk, let alone while he was on trial!

"Only that, if my punishment should in any way remove me from my position, or inhibit my ability to act, as the Magnus, Sentinel Prime is still the next in the chain of command, and will once more fulfill the role of acting Magnus." Murmurs and groans were heard throughout the hall.

"I see...Well, to avoid the defendant influencing the deliberations of this council, I'm afraid I must ask you to wait outside, with this group of Autobots. Optimus Prime, I'm placing the defendant in your custody while we deliberate." Perceptor turned to Alpha Trion.

"That is a very unorthodox decision, Alpha Trion." Trion rubbed his forehead wearily.

"And what, pray tell, has been the least bit orthodox about this trial?" Optimus hesitantly escorted Ultra Magnus into the hallway, Bumblebee and the others close behind. Sari activated her jet pack, and held a hand out to Ultra Magnus, once the doors had closed behind them.

"I know we haven't talked much before, but I already like you!" He smiled, offering a finger to her hand, as they shook.

"I'm glad to help. Optimus? I'm sorry I couldn't talk to you before this trial. If I had, you would be a Magnus as well, and many of your charges would have been dropped outright." The Prime frowned at this.

"Sir, I can barely keep this lot from goofing off and trying to do things their own way. I'm not fit to command our entire military force!" Magnus sighed, looking the group over.

"That's what I've lost. That sense of camaraderie, of friendship with your direct subordinates...I saw something I was missing in you, when you took the blame out there. And I realized I wanted that something back. I wouldn't be too worried about my fate, though. I will most likely receive a strict punishment, but, with the horror stories I've heard since I came back online, I highly doubt they'd want to let Sentinel carry the hammer again." They stood in the hallway for nearly an hour, waiting for some word from behind the doors. Finally, a tired, disheartened Alpha Trion emerged.

"For the next stellar cycle, regardless of when repairs could be completed, you are to go without your arm. That's all we could come up with that wouldn't put Sentinel back in your seat." He reentered the council chambers, without another word.

"Well then, I suppose I'd better get back to work. You enjoyed life on that little planet, if I'm not mistaken?" The Magnus was met with nods from all present. "Well, from what I've seen of Optimus' reports, there's quite a bit of danger down there...And a space bridge that could bring that danger here. I'll need to assign some Autobots to keep an eye on that space bridge. A squad that knows the world fairly well. A squad of bots that the locals know. I won't be able to get you sent back right away. First, I have to file several movements through the council. Regardless, you'll be back on Earth soon. Until then, I give you full leave. Relax, and unwind, Autobots. You've earned it." He walked away quietly, returning to Fortress Maximus, the headquarters of all Autobot military operations.

For four days, Sari was lead around Cybertron by Bumblebee, taking all the sights and sounds of an alien world. Finally, they received the call. Bumblebee, along with the rest of the team, was contacted to take his new assignment. When the group assembled, they were surprised to see a new Autobot had joined their team.

"Jazz? You're joining our unit?" Optimus was shocked.

"Sure! Prowl, Primus rest his spark, never got a chance to finish training these two...and I'll take any excuse I can get to go to Earth!" Optimus' unit welcomed Jazz happily, and they approached the space bridge excitedly. The bridge activated, the blue glowing gate to earth appearing in its center.

Not a word was spoken. They vanished into the sphere of energy, and Sari Sumdac was swept up into her father's waiting arms.


	4. A Plague of Insecticons part 1

Jazz, Sari, and Bumblebee silently rode the ferry to Dinobot Island, staring at it anxiously. None of the Earth unit had been particularly enthusiastic about this mission, but the council had convinced them that it was indeed necessary.

The ferry docked, and the three stepped off the ferry, Jazz almost instantly vanishing, ready to provide combat support if negotiations turned sour. After fifteen minutes of cautiously trudging through the island's wooded areas, they found their way to the Dinobots, who, fortunately, hadn't noticed them.

"Grimlock?" Sari said quietly, trying to greet them as non threateningly as possible. Grimlock looked up, angrily, as Swoop turned on his perch to glare at them. "Easy, we'll leave soon, but we want to ask you something!" She held her hands up to show she was unarmed, and Bumblebee stared in awe at the size of these beasts.

It wasn't the first time he'd seen them, of course, but when in battle, everything moved so fast. He'd never truly had time to appreciate just how huge Grimlock was.

"What tiny lady want ask me Grimlock?" He snorted, his mouth starting to glow as he impatiently began to gather fire within.

"It's about how part of your island went away! People are worried it'll happen again, and then you might lose your whole island!" True enough, they had come to try and determine the risks of residual transwarp energy, but if there was a reaction, far more than Dinobot island would be lost. Still, the Dinobots were self centered creatures. The best way to get their help was to make it all about them.

"Grimlock will stop island from going away! Grimlock will keep island here!"

"But, Grimlock, you couldn't stop the part of the island that's gone from going away, could you?If it happens again, how will you stop it?" Grimlock glared in silence, stewing in an unbearable feeling of impotence, struggling with his desires to hear her out and protect his island, and attack her to show her he was strong enough on his own.

"...What tiny lady do for Grimlock island?"

"Not me. I'm here to ask for other people. They want to come here and make sure the island won't go away. If they came here, you would hurt them, right? But I want to ask you if you would let them make sure the island doesn't go away, without hurting them." The team of Analysis agents, along with a full troop of Autotrooper escorts, assigned due to reports regarding the island, were all standing by on the shores of the lake, ready to make an attempt to determine and neutralize any transwarp disasters before they'd happen.

"...Grimlock let people come. But only cuz me Grimlock have better things to do with time. Let other people take care of little things." He stomped away, and tried to make himself look busy with important work, though he only succeeded in splashing in the mud. Sari smiled.

"We won't let you down, Grimlock. We'll do everything we can to make sure your island is safe!" She and Bumblebee made their way back to the ferry, where Jazz leapt from his cover.

"So, why did Jazz come?" Bumblebee sat down on the deck of the ferry as they prepared for departure.

"In case the Dinobots attacked, I'd have an elite ninja bot to pick me up and escort me out of here." Sari smiled at Bumblebee.

"And why did I have to come?" He trembled a bit, remembering just how gargantuan the Dinobots were.

"You said you wouldn't let me go someplace so dangerous without you, because you wouldn't be able to live with yourself if I got hurt, and you didn't give your all to protect me." Bumblebee nodded, then stared at her for a moment.

"Alright, Miss 'I know stuff', then why did YOU have to come?"

"The Dinobots are very proud. If they see something around their size, they try to fight it. They just want to feel big, and show off. So, if something small comes up, something that, if they squashed it, it would just be boring, and not an accomplishment, they're not as interested." The three of them chatted amiably during the ride back to the mainland, and got off the boat as the Autotroopers and scientists boarded it.

"Remember," Sari said, glaring at the mission's leader, "The Dinobots are proud, and short-tempered. If you don't treat them with utmost respect, they might change their minds and melt down every bot on this mission." The scientist nodded, hefting his tool bag and stepping onto the ship. Sari and her escorts made their way back to their headquarters for some well deserved rest.

The lead scientist was the first one off the boat, and was shocked to see three massive robotic reptiles standing in front of him, along with a very confused looking Decepticon whose badge looked someone tried to dig it off. One of the Autotroopers noticed the Decepticon, and immediately moved to engage, but was tackled by Snarl.

"YOU NO HURT SNARL'S FRIEND. YOU NO HURT DINOBOTS. YOU HELP ISLAND, THAT ALL." Grimlock growled at them.

"Relax, guys, my name's Scrapper, I'm just here to see what all the commotion is about."

"But...You're a Decepticon!" Another Autotrooper stated the obvious.

"Decepticon? Nah, I'm done with that. I'm sick of having to work for anybody who has a gun bigger than my head. From now on, I'm just gonna chill out on this beach here." The lead scientist turned to the Autotroopers.

"Stand down, bots. You're jeopardizing the mission with unwarranted hostility." He then turned to the only Dinobot who had spoken. "I'm Wheeljack, and I'm in charge of this mission. I'm sorry about how they acted, they just heard about how dangerous you boys are, and got a little jumpy. This is the leader of our security operations, Trailbreaker. If you guys have any questions while we're working, talk to one of us." Grimlock inspected the scientist, and the black robot beside him.

"Me, Grimlock. Me KING. That swoop, him king, but me Grimlock more king, and that snarl, him also king, but me Grimlock am most king. And that Scrapper, him teach us good things, even though him intruder. Him not king, but him Snarl's friend. You, go make sure island not go away." He stood proudly, his massive jawline pulled into a strangely menacing semblance of a smile.

"Right, you heard the bot, let's get to work." Wheeljack and his men marched across to the opposite side of the island, the Dinobots following out of curiosity, and Scrapper following out of boredom.

Wheeljack happily explained the functions of his tools as best he could as he and his men began their analysis. After a few hours of work, they found a disturbing conclusion.

"Looks like your island is definitely in trouble, Grimlock. It seems like there's more transwarp radiation than there should be, even after that explosion, like it's still building...We've got something to take care of that, though. We'll make sure your island doesn't go anywhere." He pulled a device from one of his tool bags, and handed it to a scientist. "What that does is, it gathers ambient transwarp energy and then disperses it. It's how we keep space bridges from overloading when they're not in use. Once we pull in the energy with the beacon and disperse it with the filter, your island should be safe." Grimlock nodded, understanding very little, but watching intently as the scientist approached the newer shoreline.

As the beacon was activated to gather the energy, the sky began to glow as a reaction tore through the mass of transwarp power. It was over in an instant, with only a few survivors. Trailbreaker had pulled a force field up over himself and anyone near enough, which unfortunately left only a few Autotroopers, Wheeljack, the Dinobots and Scrapper unaffected.

The island was untouched by the reaction, but every bot exposed to it fell to the ground, their bodies bulging and shifting. In mere moments, the Autotrooper batallion and the scientific expedition force had been mutated into bestial, angry monstrosities. They flew off into the air, vanishing from sight.

"This isn't good." Trailbreaker muttered.

"Not good at all," Wheeljack agreed.

Grimlock looked Wheeljack in the optic. "Is island safe?" Wheeljack nodded. "Good. You can go now. Me Grimlock thank you." The Dinobots stormed off happily, with Scrapper following casually behind them.

Wheeljack activated his com. "Optimus Prime? We've got a problem." He stared out over the sea, where several chunks of the missing land had resurfaced.

The Earth-based Autobots assembled in their factory, with Wheeljack and Trailbreaker joining them.

"I'm not entirely sure what happened, but all of our Autotroopers seem to have mutated into some kind of techno organic form. Big green buzzy things. They transformed and flew off. I don't know what else to tell you. Unfortunately, we're under orders to leave as soon as the transwarp energy has been taken care of, so we have to head out now. If you need any help, be sure to ask for us. I don't know about Trailbreaker, but I feel like this is partly my fault." Bulkhead stepped forward, shaking his head.

"Nah, this crazy slag always happens when people try to use transwarp and spacebridge technology for mad science." Optimus frowned.

"Regardless, we've now got approximately 20 big green creatures that may or may not be hostile. We might need to call for reinforcements."

"What are you talking about? After I...oh, wait." Wheeljack moved forward, and swiped Prime's axe. "I forgot, I was supposed to do this." He quickly went to work, and in moments he was done. "There, I've doubled the energy output capabilities, with a variable output switch. Even though you haven't been promoted, Magnus wanted me to let you know you're all technically elite guard now, and I was supposed to upgrade your weapons." As he went to work on the other Autobots, Optimus activated his axe. First, it was just the standard blue blade expanding from it. Then, he increased the output, giving it a much larger blade, extending the handle, and turning the blade a rich orange color. Bulkhead's wrecking ball was made into a spiked flail, the spikes being prehensile, to dig into his target.

"...Wait a second, your stingers are already battle grade." He moved on from Bumblebee almost instantly, not mentioning the illegal upgrade to his stingers, and approached Ratchet. "Jazz already has class L weaponry, so you're the last one, doc." Ratchet shook his head and backed away slowly.

"Oh no, I'm not a soldier. I might fight when I have to, but I'm a medic." Wheeljack nodded, and sighed.

"Sorry we can't help clean up this mess. Orders...what can we do? Good luck, all of ya." Trailbreaker silently escorted Wheeljack to Sumdac Systems, and the space bridge with their remaining Autotrooper guards. Sari grabbed her cell phone, and dialed quickly.

"Dad, we have a possible emergency situation. I'm going to stay with the Autobots tonight for quick response. I will. You too, dad. I love you too." She closed the phone and slipped it into her pocket, and the Autobots all stared at her. "What?" Jazz turned to Prime.

"I'm ok with teaching her to be a cyber-ninja, but she's not an official Autobot. Should we really be trusting her with Autobot business?" Prme put a hand on Jazz's shoulder.

"Don't worry about it. I talked this over with Magnus back on Cybertron. She's an allied agent to the Cybertronian military. But what I don't understand is why she was so quiet when Wheeljack was here."

"What do you mean?" The techno organic seemed puzzled.

"He means him and Bulkhead just got massive combat upgrades. You didn't even try to get him to make your jetpack faster! He probably woulda done it, too!" Ratchet grumbled something about irresponsibility, and headed off to the medical bay. Sari sighed.

"Whatever, guys. It's been a long day, worrying about whether or not Earth would be safe from having half of it teleported across the galaxy. I'm gonna go chill in my room. You wanna come, Bee?" Bumblebee stood silently, seemingly in shock.

"You know, Sari, technically transwarp is not teleportation. You see, the primary difference is that transwarp involves making a bridge between two places through subspace, hence the term space bridge. Meanwhile, the theory behind teleportation involves instantaneous movement of matter through normal space between two distant points."

"That's great, Bulkhead, but two things. One, it really weirds me out when you sound smart, and two, I think something's wrong with Bumblebee." They all stared at Bumblebee as he stood perfectly still, optics wide. Prime gently poked him in the forehead, and the compact promptly began freaking out. Sari attempted to tackle him to subdue the frantically flailing bot, but only managed to cling tightly to his face.

"Calm down, Bee! What's gotten into you?" Bumblebee finally stopped his spastic spasms, sat on the concrete couch.

"It...It's something that happened when you were recovering after the overload... You know Black Arachnia was involved in the accident, but...there's more to it than that..." Bulkhead's optics went wide.

"You don't think..." Bumblebee nodded.

"Big, green buzzy things? What else am I supposed to think? It's got to be Wasp..."

"I think Bumblebee needs some privacy, guys." Prime ushered Bulkhead and Jazz out of the room, leaving Bumblebee alone to tell Sari his story.

Once the story was done, she gently placed her palm on his insignia, and transformed. "Bee, you did what you thought was right. And you said he forgave you for it..."

"Wasp forgave me...but then he said Waspinator never forgives..." She hugged him tight as she could despite her inability to get her arms around him.

"Waspinator must be someone else, then. He's not Wasp anymore, so you haven't done anything wrong to him. It doesn't matter what you did to him in the past. You apologized, and he forgave you. Waspinator doesn't matter. Besides, those Autotroopers had their own lives, their own sparks, their own memories...Why would they turn into Waspinator?"

"Wazzpinator wonder that too!" A giant wasp hovered down from the ceiling, transforming into a large green robot. "Wazzpinator does not blame Bumblebot. Wazzpinator does not hate Bumblebot for what he did." He bowed his head a bit, and Bumblebee gave a sigh of relief. "Wazzpinator hate Bumblebot for other reasons!" He thrust his fist at Bumblebee, an energy ball the size of his head throwing his aim to the side, causing his hand to pierce through the couch. He ripped his arm free, the couch crumbling around it, and glared at them, transforming.

"Wazzpinator is many. Wazzpinator is legion! Wazzpinator here to give Bumblebot warning...Wazzpinator will come for Bumblebot. Wazzpinator will tear Bumblebot's spark from his chest!" He flew off into the night just as the Autobots entered the room, the sounds of the couch being destroyed drawing their attention. Bumblebee stared out the broken window after Waspinator, one of many windows that had been broken since they'd moved in. Quietly, he muttered a single word.

"Slag...."


	5. A Plague of Insecticons part 2

It had been a full week since the first of the Waspinator clones confronted Bumblebee, and every night since, they had returned to threaten him. They never damaged him, only delivering threats, and they had done nothing else, but a full week of constant fear began to take its toll on the compact. Sari had become sort of a security blanket in this rough period, but even her calming power over him was starting to wane. Regardless, given the circumstances, she was spending as much time as she could with him.

Prime had been trying to contact Cybertron, but no matter what they tried, the signal couldn't get through. Deep down, he had found himself wishing from time to time that Black Arachnia had returned with the Waspinator swarm, but he kept his mind on the threat at hand.

Sari sat on Bumblebee's hood, watching TV with him. Her cell phone began ringing, and Bumblebee jolted a bit in fear, nearly throwing her off of him.

"Hello? Hi, dad. They're still coming every night...He hasn't been able to power down in a week, and he's getting a little jumpy. Wait, you found what?...What do you mean?...That's impossible. No, no, that's completely impossible, dad...hang on, I'm gonna take this to Optimus and put you on speaker phone." She approached the Autobot leader, a skittish, whimpering Bumblebee following her.

"Hello, Dr. Sumdac. What did you need to talk to me about?" Isaac let out a loud sigh.

"I've been performing some scans to try and help out with this situation, and, while I couldn't detect any Decepticon signatures, I found something else. The Lugnut Supreme on Dinobot island was never recovered, and now it seems to be swarming with activity."

"But the Dinobots would never let any intruders live on their island. They're the whole reason we never recovered that body."

"I suspect they overwhelmed the Dinobots and forced them back...As I said, I'm not picking up energy signatures, due to their techno organic nature, but I'm getting some strange heat readings that, if I'm interpreting right, are about three hundred Waspinators, and one really, really big one."

"But that's impossible, Dr. Sumdac...there were only twenty Waspinator clones."

"And now there are two hundred and eighty one more, unless my machines are lying to me. I'm not asking you to believe the numbers, Optimus. I just wanted to give you a lead I found."

"...Alright. Thank you, Dr. Sumdac."

"Anything to help my friends." Sari switched off speaker phone, told her father she loved him, and hung up.

"So, do we have any way of carpet bombing the island?" She asked, incredibly angry about all they'd been putting Bumblebee through.

"Only if you want to be the one to tell the Dinobots why their island is ruined when they decide to get revenge." Optimus activated his comm, and contacted Jazz. "I need you to run recon on the Lugnut Supreme body on Dinobot Island. It may be inhabited."

"You got it, Prime. I'll hit ya with updates when I got 'em." Jazz sped toward the docks, transforming as he neared the end of a pier, flipping into the air and landing on the ferry. He cut the tether to the dock, and headed for the controls. Once he reached the island, he quickly vanished into the trees, his skills keeping him from detection, despite the stark contrast of his white chassis amongst the leaves.

Only a few cycles after he left, he had reached his destination. The fallen Lugnut Supreme was filled with holes, with dozens of Waspinators crawling on it, taking small pieces of its plating and returning them to the interior. The left arm of the fallen weapon had completely vanished, and the Waspinators seemed to simply ignore that area. Jazz dashed inside, and quickly took cover. Several of the strange wasp hive looked toward him, but dismissed it as a trick of the light. They continued walking with their harvest metals into the head of Lugnut Supreme. Jazz hopped up, clinging to the ceiling, and crawling along it. He knew that if they looked up at all, he'd be spotted. His paint job wasn't the most discreet, after all. Still, it wasn't as if they were very intelligent. He snuck into the head and saw something terrifying.

A great white pulsating mass stuck out from a dividing wall in the head. It opened up, gurgling, as a Waspinator struggled to crawl out of it. It transformed, and went to work gathering more metals. He snuck through another door, to get to the other side of the dividing wall, but was spotted immediately. There were at least fifty guards in here, and now he knew why. That gross pulsating blob was a transformer! Black Arachnia lay sobbing on the floor, her lower body completely pinned under this new part of her body. She writhed in agony, her body now a grotesque amalgamation of wasp and spider, caught between transformations, her mouth being stuffed with metals harvested from the Supreme, stifling her cries.

Jazz was roused from his shock and horror at what he had seen by the realization that the Waspinators were encroaching on him. He reached into a compartment in his thigh, pulling out a small sphere. Taking note of the distance to the door, he threw it at the ground, releasing a massive wave of light and sound.

Everyone in the room had their optic and audio sensors overloaded, and were blinded and deafened as their systems underwent recalibration, including Jazz. Fortunately for the Autobot, he had been trained to fight without the use of any senses, and lashed out, striking two of them to move them out of his way, then transforming and flooring it as he plowed through every Waspinator between himself and the boat.

He leapt on deck, ready to disembark, only to notice several more of the technoorganic creatures crawling out from below deck. Switching to vehicle mode again, he drove into the lake, and sank to the bottom of it, driving along the lake bed, far out of their reach, heading for the Autobot headquarters.

He burst in the door, dripping wet, and ran to Optimus' side. "Prime! We got BIG trouble!" The Autobots gathered to listen to Jazz's report. "They're cannibalizing the parts of the Supreme, and force-feeding them to Black Arachnia. Then, Waspinators come out the other end. I've never seen anything so horrible..."

"Maybe we should call Ultra Magnus for some reinforcements?" Bulkhead fidgeted nervously.

"No chance. Wasp wasn't stupid. He just went insane. We open that space bridge, there's too much risk they'll swarm Cybertron. We have to do this alone. We can't waste time, we've got to get in there." Optimus looked his Bots over, ready to move.

"Prime, are you sure you're not letting personal feelings cloud your judgment?" Ratchet put his hand on his leader's shoulder, frowning and staring into his face.

"Ratchet, the longer we wait, the more we'll be outnumbered. Autobots, transfo—wait." He turned to Bumblebee, frowning. "I know how taxing this has all been for you. If you want to stay behind, none of us will think any less of you."

Bumblebee looked around, optics wide. "What, you wanna leave me here alone? With an army of guys out there who want to see me offline? No way!" Prime smiled, then turned towards the door.

"Transform, and roll out!"

Sari climbed into Bumblebee's cab, and, upon the revelation that their boat was back at the island, the Autobots drove into the lake.

"You holding up alright, Bee?" Sari asked, already in her robot mode, running her smooth metallic fingers over his dash board reassuringly.

"Oh, you know...Not really..." he answered, in a care free, matter of fact tone.

"I've got your back," She offered, hoping to calm him down.

"Yeah...Yeah, and I've got yours!" He confidently declared. She kissed him softly in the center of his steering wheel. He hit a rock on the lake bed, causing her to headbutt him and leaving him honking loudly. After a moment, he spoke again, once more sounding scared and unsure.

"If anything does happen, Sari...I want you to know that I love you..." She frowned, then nodded.

"I love you too, Bee." They were silent for the rest of the ride. The Autobots surfaced, and transformed as they rolled onto the dry land.

"Alright, everyone. Keep low, keep quiet, and keep to the trees. Wait about twenty meters, give or take, long as you're still under the trees. Maintain all silence to avoid detection. Jazz, give us five minutes after you're in position, then I want you to get in there and make a distraction. That'll be our signal to move in, and attack them from behind, while they're focused on you. I wouldn't ask you to do this if I wasn't confident you could handle it." Optimus drew in the sand to help clarify his plan. They advanced on the Supreme hull, and, at the planned point, Optimus nodded at Jazz, who then dashed into the fallen mechastructure without a sound.

All was silent. The Autobots stood uncomfortably, weapons at the ready, waiting. Finally, there was a loud screech, and the Waspinators swarmed to one end of the ship. The Autobots dashed in, attacking the bulk of the swarm. Optimus cleanly bisected one enemy, then spun and slammed the handle into the torso of another. The handle extended, slamming it into a third, pinning them to the wall. He gave a quick shove, causing a pair of loud cracks from each of them, though none of it was audible over the cacophonous battle.

Bulkhead, noticing his opponents' ability to easily dodge his flail, decided on an alternate mode of combat. Taking several hits, he waited for several of them to focus their attention on him, before deliberately falling forward, crushing them beneath him.

Ratchet first tried to use a wide spread EMP blast, and then his magnetic claws, only to find that neither was particularly effective against the techno organics. Still, with a surgical precision born of his profession, he hefted a chunk of the hull and attacked the Waspinators with it. It wouldn't hurt them much, but it kept them distracted for the most part.

It was about this time that the Waspinators realized exactly what was going on, and their chaotic battle strategies were corrected all at once, advancing on Jazz in a smaller front, and attacking the rest in another. They knew Bulkhead from the academy. That would be the easiest place to start.

None of the groups were risking an attack, focusing solely on defense to minimize their losses, dodging with incredible reflexes. Bulkhead charged the bugs, but they transformed and flew easily out of his way. Getting annoyed, he swatted furiously at them, following through the hull as they lead him on a chase. One transformed, and activated his stinger, blasting the ceiling and causing a sizable chunk to pin Bulkhead to the floor, the distracted Autobots unaware of their comrade's plight. The Waspinator who blasted the ceiling sauntered cockily towards his cornered enemy, a smug grin on his face. The grin disappeared though, as Bulkhead grabbed him by the leg and slammed him into the wall, knocking several of his joints loose. He glared at the others, who decided it was better to leave him for later and went to help take down another enemy.

Jazz watched his targets buzz erratically in front of him. They seemed to be deliberately avoiding any sort of pattern, and he couldn't get a bead on any of them. Finally, just as they seemed to be settling down, the ones who had just finished with Bulkhead grabbed his arms, holding him to the wall. They grabbed some of their fallen hive members, and broke the stingers off of their beast modes, ramming them into his servos, nailing him to the wall as he screamed. Two threats were neutralized, but three still remained, so they left him there, stuck on the wall, wailing in anguish.

Ratchet saw what had happened to Jazz, and hurled his piece of hull that he used as a weapon into a fair sized group of enemies, charging to help his comrade. As he was instantly overwhelmed, Bumblebee stared on in shock and horror. He could hear Optimus shouting an order to him, he could understand it, but it was still just noise to him. He was completely frozen.

Prime charged in, cutting through five of the clones in one massive swipe, pulling Ratchet to his feet.

"Bumblebee! Snap out of it! We need your help!" Before these words had a chance to register, a Waspinator landed in front of him, pulling its arm back, screaming with rage. The compact clenched his eyes shut, bracing for the blow. When it didn't come, he dared a look, only to find a smoking hole in the enemy's head. Sari stood beside him, panting.

"They're strong, they're fast, but with adequate armor, they're too heavy to fly." She winked at him, and he felt himself regaining some of his courage, firing his stingers rapidly. Sari flew through their ranks, lobbing energy spheres into joints, breaking limbs off of bodies. Spinning around, she shot a cocky glance at Bumblebee. Her moment of pride was cut short as it lead to her downfall, her arms pinned to her side by massive green fingers. Everyone paused, the Waspinators knowing full well they had the Autobots beaten, and the Autobots fearing for the life of their comrade.

"Prime and other botzz leave. Bumbler and girl zztay, or Wazzpinator crush girl!" Sari glared at him with impotent rage as she felt the fist around her begin to grow uncomfortably tight. She yelped in pain as he gave a quick squeeze, then proceeded to unleash a bombardment of swears native to her homeworld's culture. As if hidden in the hundreds of foul words, she shouted three words at Bumblebee.

"POP YOUR TRUNK!"

Bumblebee ejected the contents of his trunk into the air, and quickly put them to use, attatching them to his forearms and activating the energy blades. He dropped his wheels to the ground, and charged forward as the blade grew out from his arm, impaling the chest of the Waspinator holding Sari hostage. She panted as he set her on his chassis just behind his head, her jet pack now damaged and unusable. He began cleaving through the enemies, keeping a wide distance between him and his targets.

"How did those get in there?" He asked, feigning annoyance.

"I thought we might need them." Sari smirked innocently outside of his view. Dashing through the enemy hoards, he slashed wildly at them to clear a path, then slammed the breaks and ripped the stingers out of Jazz's hands and feet.

"Can you fight, sensei?" Without a word, Jazz transformed and began plowing down hostiles. Once more, the Waspinators were in a state of panic, and it wasn't long before the room was filled with only autobots and body parts.

"Good work, everyone. That was a tough fight, but I knew we could get through it."

"Not to be a kill joy, but I'm still kind of pinned." Bulkhead shouted from the other end of the room, trapped beneath a chunk of Lugnut Supreme. Ratchet couldn't keep from chuckling as he eased the debris off of Bulkhead with his magnets.

"Jazz, where are they keeping her?" Jazz transformed, and pointed at a doorway before limping toward Ratchet for repairs.

Optimus burst into the head of Lugnut Supreme, Finding Black Arachnia surrounded by desperate Waspinators, trying eagerly to regain their numbers by forcing more cybertronian flesh into her mouth. Within seconds, they were all offline.

"Black Arachnia..." He stared sadly at her as she sobbed in torment and agony.

"Please...Optimus, please...it hurts so much...take me offline!"

"But...I can't-"

"You can! I just saw you do it to them! Aren't I a Decepticon?" He shook his head.

"Part of being an Autobot is not extinguishing sparks just because they're your enemies..."

"Then do it as an act of mercy!" She sobbed, struggling under the weight of her own body. She smiled weakly, and clenched her eyes as he raised his axe over his head. He swung down hard, cleaving through her and into the floor. Confused, she opened her eyes once again.

"I...I still function..." Looking behind herself, she found that she was free of the strange pulsating flesh glob that had her legs nearly crushed. She scampered out from under it as Optimus lifted the former piece of her anatomy off of her.

"I left you to go offline before. I've never stopped regretting it. I won't make that mistake again."

"You expect this to make me an Autobot?" Optimus shook his head.

"I wish. No, I'm not that naive. I know you're going to attack me, or transform and spin a web, and escape from here. But like you said...I'm an Autobot. Mercy is a part of who I am."

"Right...attack you...transform...um...my weapons and abilities are offline from the whole...half wasp thing...I guess I'll have to surrender to you." She placed a hand gently on his chest plate. He smiled at her, placing his own servos on her shoulder. "Take me to the Autobots...I'm ready to try to let them help me...if they don't just take me offline..."

"Are you sure?" Optimus frowned, fearful that they might in fact deactivate her.

"I'm ready to forgive, Optimus. I feel so weak, so tired...my body is nearly broken just being what it is...I'm sick of hating...I'm tired of grudges. I just want to let it all go and forgive them...and forgive you..." He transformed, letting her rest on the bed of his truck form, carrying her to the next room.

"Autobots, transform and roll out!" They left the giant desecrated corpse, heading back to Detroit, pausing on the shore.

"Optimus, I can't survive under water." Black Arachnia noted, annoyed. After a moment of thought, they helped her into Bulkhead, leaving her a little cramped for the duration of the trip back to their home.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: sorry that one took so long. I realized how easily the waspinators were going down, then I realized they had to go down easy or the autobots wouldn't have a chance, and then I realized that bees, which wasps are obviously somewhat similar to as the original waspinator toy was a recolor of a mold of a guy who turned into a bee, were long said to be too heavy to fly with the mechanics of an airplane, and that got me thinking. They don't have jets for thrust, they're working with their own body's motions to make them fly, they've gotta be pretty light. As for how one still punched through the couch...um...that concrete was weakened by being ripped out of its source? I dunno.

ANOTHER NOTE: Any fans of the story got war for cybertron? XBL gamertag: lartehk.

FINAL NOTE: there's still gonna be more. I just felt I had to tie up the plague of insecticons.


	6. Why Bother Leaving?

Sorry for the wait, I kinda got the wind sucked out of my sails trying to write this chapter about 5 times but then a virus shut down my system, then my lappy couldn't take in power, then the new one had to be formatted, twice, and then I just wasn't feeling it for a while. I wound up cutting some ideas, making it shorter, and having it flow better, so it's not as long as I originally planned it to be, but here it is. Flesh Without, Spark Within, Chapter 6.

Heels scraped against the steel, a tall, lanky Cybertronian being dragged through the halls of the massive Autobot detention facility.

"You...you can't do this to me...I am the leader of the Renegades...you are insects to me!... The Gobotron colonies will be mine!" He muttered, mildly delirious from from the energon drain all prisoners are subjected to.

"Warden says put the wannabe in with the genuine article," An Autotrooper told the guards escorting the new prisoner. "Can't say I'm jealous, I hate going near that room. Makes my spark clench." They nodded, and continued to haul him through the sterile, eerily blank, uniform hallways. Finally reaching a door with a guard stationed in front of it, they gave their security codes to him. He stepped aside, opening the door. The prisoner hit the floor of his new home with a loud clang, groaning about his inexorable rise to power. The door slammed shut, and footsteps were heard echoing away from the door.

He looked up with fear in his eyes when he saw his cellmate. Twice his size, Megatron loomed over him, holding out a small bit of energon. "Take it." He offered. "Part of my rations. I've been gathering a little extra from every feeding since I arrived." The new inmate greedily gobbled down the energon, thanking him enthusiastically. "You misunderstand." He placed a servo over the fresh fish's mouth, and quietly, quickly pulled open his chest plate, ripping out a piece of his body. "You are the tool of my escape."

Working quickly, he took the energon distribution drive from his victim's own mechastructure, rewiring it into itself. He placed it by the door, and, pushing his arm through the body of the mech he sacrificed to use as a shield, he waited as the energon cycled through the device faster and faster, creating a volatile feedback loop, before finally exploding, blowing the door open.

"Hmm. Still usable as a shield." He noted, walking out with half a body stuck on his forearm. He stomped down on the door, crushing his guard beneath it, trapped there by the blast. Reaching down, he grabbed the guard's weapon and key cards, opening other cells, and distributing key cards to each inmate he released. Sirens howled, but it was no use. In less than an hour, Megatron was in full control of the station, with the largest Decepticon army amassed since the height of the great war.

From the control room, he saw that Autobot forces were inbound from all directions. "Shockwave."

"Yes, lord Megatron."

"Analyze the systems. We both know this prison is something more. Find out how to get it done." As Shockwave went to work, Megatron went to ensure that loyalty to him was burning in the spark of every mech present. He patched into the PA system.

"Inmates. Prisoners. You are, from this day forward, neither of these. Many of you have fought for me in the past, and upon capture, awaited this day. Others were once Autobots, and I know you must hate us for all that we represent to your kind...But tell me, why did your own kind place you here, to be forgotten, to rust, and rot, on the brink of stasis lock, from now until the end of time? I bid you, join me. If not for my cause, then for your vengeance, if not for your vengeance, then for your dignity. I have broken your chains. It is up to you to remove them." He smiled to himself. That would do it. It wasn't long before several soldiers of his met up to report the boost in morale this had caused, most of them imprisoned along side him, but one in particular standing out.

"Cruellock. It has been far too long." The small Decepticon growled, twisting its head. "The years of isolation seem to have done wonders for your sanity. Fear not. I shall have revenge for what they did to one of my most loyal mechs." Cruellock snarled at him, bowing in servitude.

"Megatron." Shockwave's voice rang out with its ethereal eeriness, "I have deciphered the system's security protocols, and using the prisoner database, have found several compatible sparks. One must be sacrificed to the system to enable an escape plan that would have the lowest amount of losses."

"Very good, Shockwave..." He went to the PA system once again. "I fear the Autobot oppressors have us surrounded. However, there is still a means of freedom to be utilized. My trusted tactician Shockwave will send a station-wide ping to all inmates who meet the requirements, and I ask that one of you offer up your spark to engage a system in this base that will allow us exodus from this planet that has forsaken us. Shockwave?" Shockwave nodded, activating the ping.

Lugnut gasped. He had his chance. Finally, he could live his dream of giving his life for the Decepticon cause. But before he could step forward, Cruellock tore his own chest plate open, his spark glowing within. Shockwave gathered it up, and placed it in the primary security console, the whole base reacting to its insertion.

"MEGATRON!" came a voice over the prison's comms, "Surrender now! We have you surrounded! If you do not surrender, we will be forced to destroy the prison and everyone inside. You have ten nanocycles to comply." All at once, the station came to life, automated turrets once used to prevent inmates from escaping or enemies from breaking them out blazed, gunning down every Autobot in range. The prison, now a Decepticon stronghold, lifted off the ground, slowly ascending out of the atmosphere and into the depths of space.

Megatron grinned his dark and twisted grin. Even in his wildest dreams, it hadn't gone this smoothly. His army was as big as it had ever been. He had a vast weapons cache, left by the former owners of the facility to stop exactly this sort of thing from happening, and an even larger energon supply meant to sustain all inmates and guards until the coming of the chaos bringer. He turned on the PA system one more time.

"Gentlemechs," He hissed, "The prison is now our stronghold. Trypticon is ours."


	7. When it rains, it pours

Sari stealthily stalked her way through the Autobot base, hiding behind pillars and rocks from anyone who might see her. She opened the door to the medical center, ducking under the beds. A recovering Black Arachnia sniffed audibly.

"Hello, Sari..." She said, smelling the human, who proceeded to pop up over the side of the bed and shush her. Ducking back under the bed, she dashed for the far door, entering Ratchet's private quarters.

"Yeah? Oh-ho! He didn't. He didn't! Yeah, me too. Yeah. Same time next cycle? Alright, bye." Ratchet deactivated the comm circuit, and turned around to see a grinning teenage girl staring at him.

"RATCHET AND ARCEE SITTING IN A TREE, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" She leaped backwards, dodging a paralyzing magnetic blast, and quickly scurried up onto Black Arachnia's bed waving her arms frantically.

"Base!" she called, "BASE! You can't do anything now or you'll risk hurting a patient!" Ratchet grumbled, glaring at her. After a moment, a small smirk appeared, and he went back to his quarters. "Sorry I had to use you for protection..." She told Black Arachnia.

"Hey, if we'll call it even for the time I kidnapped you, then I'm good." She responded weakly, her body still dealing with the mutation caused by Waspinator.

"Oh, you were a bad guy then. Now you're not." She stated, matter of factly, sitting down in the crook of the spider-bot's neck, leaning an elbow on her shoulder. "No hard feelings."

"SARI!" Bumblebee called from the living room. "YOUR HOUSE IS ON TV!" She rushed out, knowing her father had no reason for a press release to be going on, and skidded to a halt near the couch, hopping onto Bumblebee's lap. The image she saw was distressing to say the least, Sumdac Tower surrounded by military forces.

"The image you see," The reporter spoke, "Is Sumdac Systems, the company that has brought so much growth and development to Detroit and the leader of the robotics development revolution, under quarantine by the United States military. Long denying any willingness to develop military technology, Isaac Sumdac is now being accused of building an incredibly powerful weapon in secret. The government has given him an ultimatum: either divulge all details of his weapon to the government, or submit to military police and have it confiscated." Tears were welling up in Sari's eyes as she shook her head.

Optimus stood up from his chair, and moved to leave. "I'm going down there. Jazz, you come with me. Bulkhead, let Ratchet know what's up." Sari got up from her seat on her boyfriend, and stood beside the Prime.

"I have to go with you. I know my dad is innocent."

"I do too, Sari, but I don't know much about how your military works, do you?" She shook her head, wondering where he was going with this. "We don't know what lengths they're willing to go to. I don't know if you noticed, but your dad has the force field up. I've been granted a diplomatic status by your government, and I have a legitimate concern outside of friendship to be there and demand answers. That's the only link to my home. I promise I'll give you all the information I get, but promise me you will stay here." He held up a hand to keep her from speaking as he thought for a moment. "And let me see your servos so I know you're not crossing them." He soon added. Sari held up her hands, and nodded.

"I promise...I just...I'm worried about my dad...why wouldn't he call me when-" She paused mid sentence and whipped out her cellphone. "No answer..." She sighed, slumping back to the TV area.

"Cheer up, kiddo," Jazz told her, transforming. "He's probably just busy thinking up away outta this mess, y'know?" She smiled weakly at him.

"Thanks, Sensei..." She climbed back up on Bumblebee's lap, staring at the screen in distress. Ratchet soon came out of the medical center, and stood behind them.

"Sari, if there is anything I can do to help you through this... Let me know, alright?" He told her, walking around the couch to sit next to Bumblebee. Black Arachnia came out with her battery, hanging from a transformer-sized IV stand, giving her an intravenous energy drip, and took a seat as well, as Bulkhead took Optimus' chair.

"Sorry I'm not feeling better." Black Arachnia said, turning from the screen to Sari, and back. "What better way to sneak him out of there than a fake Decepticon attack?"

"I appreciate it, but...That would just give us more trouble...He's been held captive to help the Decepticons before, and they might think he was actually working with them at that point..." Black Arachnia nodded, frowning, as Optimus and Jazz rolled onto camera.

"I am Optimus Prime. Who's in charge here?" He asked, looking around. A decorated officer stepped forward.

"Commander Derek Ichabod." He answered, introducing himself. "What brings you down to this part of town?" He extended a hand, smiling amicably. Optimus offered his finger for the commander to shake, before motioning to the top of the tower.

"As you may know, I've been given the position of the Autobot Diplomat to your government. That is the only way home, on the top of the tower. Your actions are disrupting our ability to communicate with and return to our home."

"I'd love to help you, Optimus, I really would. I guess you saw the news?" He took off his hat, wiping the sweat from his brow as Optimus nodded. "Honestly, I'm a big fan of all you've done here. Followed what goes on with you pretty closely. Unfortunately, I'm not at the top of the chain of command, and I'll be in real hot water if I don't get that weapon. Honestly, I don't think he even knows why we're here. The moment we rolled up, he turned on his force field."

"Well," Jazz said, looking around at several tanks in the area, and a large group of armed soldiers, "can you blame him?"

"Look, Isaac is a close friend of mine. I know he would never build a weapon."

"I'm not allowed to say much..." The commander said, turning away, his head low. "But we've been misquoted...we never said he built anything." He walked away to the tent they had set up as a base of operations, Optimus' optics wide with realization. Several men in suits were watching him very closely.

"Jazz, head back, and open a comms channel once you're at the base. Make sure you're not followed." They both transformed, and Optimus left to sit in the Burgerbot parking lot.

Jazz sped down the roads, keenly aware of the black helicopters following him. He transformed into robot mode, grabbing the edge of the overpass, and swinging under it, transforming back into a car as he landed, immediately taking a turn behind a building, weaving through structures to keep himself concealed, finally making it home. He tapped his helmet, opening the channel to his boss.

"I'm at the HQ, Prime. Uh-huh. oh...oh, I see. I'll let her know." He walked over to the assembled group, all eagerly watching tv for new developments.

"Why did you guys leave?" Sari demanded. "That guy looked like he was gonna give up! What did you guys say to him?"

"Chill, girl, chill. We found out what they're after."

"Well, what is it what weapon do they think my dad made?"

"Turns out, they don't. They don't want anything he made, cuz he didn't make one. But as far as that commander's bosses are concerned...he raised one." Her eyes went wide, and she bolted for the door, Bumblebee heading her off.

"Get out of my way, Bee. I have to do this." She told him sternly, though her voice was wavering.

"I know." He transformed, opening his door. "Get in. I'm not letting you go alone."

"I'm coming too." Said Bulkhead, shifting to his alt-mode, as Jazz did the same. They all approached the tower together, and Sari climbed out of Bumblebee, weaving through the military personnel until she saw the commander in question. Guns were trained on her, though she showed no trace of fear.

"What do you think you're doing?" She asked calmly.

"Girl, you shouldn't have come here...I really didn't want this mission to succeed." He whispered, genuine sympathy on his face quickly being overridden by stoic intensity. "Sari Sumdac, we are hereby taking you into custody. If you resist, we will have no option other than to use deadly force."

"Only if you and I can talk in private." She told him. He nodded, spotting a troop transport that hadn't been around before. He placed handcuffs on her, and walked inside with her, telling his men to move out back to their base.

"Alright, so, this is Bulkhead?" He asked, unlocking her cuffs.

"Uh, yeah, hi..." The bot replied, nervously.

"Look, I'm NOT happy with what they sent me here to do, and I want to get you out of this, but we need time to think. Bulkhead, just keep going where everyone else is heading."

"Right."

"Now, Sari..." He sat on the bench across from the one she had taken. "I really hope you have a plan."

"Why should I need one? I have rights, don't I?" He sighed, shaking his head at her.

"You were never registered as an American citizen, and the higher ups have been researching day and night to figure out if you're a citizen of Cybertron. Technically, you don't have any rights. The government is going to either force you to work for them, or dismantle you to figure out how to make more weapons."

"More? I'm not a weapon. I'm a girl!" she snapped angrily.

"Right, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that...Look, you put us in a bad situation. Now I have no choice but to bring you in. I'm sorry." He stared at her, deep sadness in his eyes. She transformed, shifting to her robot mode. Taking out her cellphone, she called up Bumblebee's comm channel.

"I'm on the convoy's tail, Sari. Me and Jazz are both following you. What's the situation?" He asked. His hopes faded as she explained to him what she'd learned. "Oh, man...I guess we're out of luck then...Also, Optimus is really mad that you broke your promise...and your dad's force field is down. He's giving an interview, stating that the government took you..."

"Bumblebee...I don't know how this is going to end, but I doubt it'll be pretty."

"I know, but we're in it together."

"Yeah..." She pulled her locket out from under her dress, looking at it, smiling sadly.

"What's that?" Commander Ichabod asked. She held it up to him, and his eyes went wide.

"You know, we might just have a way out of this after all..."


	8. Chapter 8

"You'd better have a good excuse for bringing Autobots into a restricted military base, Commander." The General told him, looming over the Commander, ignoring the three Autobots doing the same to him.

"You sent me to collect one. Their condition was that she had an escort from three others. I apologize sir, but you told me that I had to resort to any means necessary, and I deemed it necessary to refrain from causing an interplanetary incident."

"As soon as I get to my office your ass is busted down to Sergeant. And you three!" He turned to the Autobots. "I hereby order you to extricate yourself from this facility."

"How come only Sari gets to stay?" Bulkhead asked, servos on his hips.

"That weapon has been commandeered by the United States military."

"Don't that break our diplomatic accords, man?" Jazz asked.

"I think it does. I mean, not only were they ready to kidnap an Autobot by force, they seem to plan on taking her apart."

"You can't fool me, you buckets of bolts." All three of them reacted in mock rage, purposely overacting in an attempt to infuriate him. "I know full well this weapon is not an Autobot."

"Ahem." Sari called out, holding up her locket.

"You!" The General pointed at a soldier. "Take Ichabod to lockdown. Ichabod, you are being court marshaled for willingly endangering this facility. As for you machines, surrender immediately. You are trespassing on army property."

Sari scowled at him. "You think we can't automatically record every word you say? You think we won't have any chance to talk to our superiors? Do you even realize that we are ready to transmit every word you've said here today at a moment's notice?" He scowl melted into a grin.

"If he was, he probably would've known better than to let us transmit it already." Bumblebee added. A soldier rushed to the General, holding a phone.

"Sir, it's the President." After a moment, the Autobots were free to relax. Sari smiled. Her plan had gone off without a hitch, but she wished she could have gotten it formulated earlier on.

"Come on, guys. Let's head home." She told them, climbing into Bumblebee. Even though she did come up with a plan, she felt bad about what was lost in the process. Ichabod was locked up, and he could face serious charges. Still, he had requested that they let him take that responsibility on himself.

As they drove back to Detroit, they received troubling news.

"Attention all Autobots in all systems: Trypticon is lost. The entirety of the Decepticon forces, along with every dangerous criminal in Cybertronian history, have escaped with the station. We have lost track of them, the defensive systems preventing us from tracking them. All Autobots are hereby ordered to report to the nearest space bridge. Protect the bridges with your sparks." Ultra Magnus's voice reverberated through their heads.

"That's not good..." Sari said.

"That's not good at all..." Agreed Bumblebee.


End file.
